Here we are in September and what a wonderful summer of festivals and art we have had, but as the evenings shorten the Arts Council looks forward to a productive and exciting autumn including the Dublin Fringe Festival, Clifden Arts Festival and the Dublin Theatre Festival.

We are always pleased to open our offices and to welcome the public in on Culture Night where we will host an exhibition of works from our art Collection, established in 1962 and comprising over 1,100 works of modern and contemporary Irish art. The exhibition will include works by Bassam Al-Sabbah, Alannah Eagan, Joy Gerrard, Cecil King, Colin Martin, Ciaran Murphy, Geraldine O’Neill, Nano Reid, Michael Warren and a large sculptural work ‘Trophy’ by Eva Rothschild Ireland’s representative at the 2019 Venice Biennale, which is being shown, in Ireland, for the very first time. Another Culture Night highlight includes the Arts Council’s collaboration with RTE in Collins Barracks, National Museum of Ireland.

In August we published our three-year plan 2020-2022. This new Making Great Art Work plan will continue much of the work started over the last three years, refining it, improving it and further developing it. We have already identified a series of new actions building on the work already commenced as well as identifying new areas of focus.

The Arts Council is delighted to announce a new theatre scheme pilot– Creative Production Services. We are currently inviting expressions of interest for this resource-sharing initiative, which will offer meaningful production support to independent theatre artists in the development, production and dissemination of their work. Prospective applicants must have registered their interest by 17:30pm on the 5 September. We would like to take this opportunity to thank those who contributed to the initial consultation process, for more information on Creative Production Services follow this link.

Upcoming funding application deadlines include 1) Strategic funding closing 5 September at 17:30, 2) Partnership Funding 12 September at 17.30pm and 3) Arts Centre Funding 19 September at 17.30pm. We would advise all artists and organisations not to leave it to the last minute to upload your applications.